Are we blogging yet? Confessions of a WordPress Creep. Part 1.

Are we blogging yet?

Confessions of just another WordPress creep.

by Stan Faryna

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Characters

Bill Dorman seems ready to throw in the social media towel. He seems to be asking, What’s the point? Of blogging.

Jack Steiner might suggest that there is no point, he writes because he must. Is he also saying, don’t write – if the words do not demand to be written?

John Magnet Bell labors over the hors d’oeuvres – obsessed with bite-size, tasty, ornamental metaphors that might possibly excite, titillate, and arouse you. To start your novel.

Myself – just another online… creep seeking beauty in myself, in others, and out there in the world.

More importantly, I am just another creep who uses more snark than is necessary, who stumbles and falls face-flat over the minefields of irony, happy facing, and ambiguity, and who unabashedly embarrasses himself in reiterations of a persistent and spectacularly naive (gawdy?) sincerity.

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Radiohead, Creep

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Plot

The four named characters have each publicly expressed a strong and compelling desire to write and publish separate novels that search for answers, coherence, and lucidity about each’s individual destiny, soul and experience. They consider that blogging and social media may serve this ambition (and other ambitions). None, however, are truly intoxicated by blogging. None blog in innocence – the kind of innocence that publishes every blog post with a bloody smile (to borrow an expression from Milan Kundera).

They have yet to apprehend the art of the blog (let alone the novel) nor do they own the blog post like a rodeo star who rides an incensed bull to the cheers of the audience. Like everyone else (A-listers included), they are caught up in the mad toss of rushing streams that come and go like flash floods. And in the absence of torrential rainfall, there is always despair, doubt and/or the fateful walking in ellipses – as apparent servants to an unfortunate Euclidian Geometry (not as masters of their own fate).

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Questions

What is blogging? Is it art (the 21st century’s answer to the novel) or flimsy counterfeit (21st Century Kitsch)?

This question, above all, promises to release our characters and, perhaps, millions from the tyranny of unforgiving axes – major and minor. 

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Is a blog lyrical, epic or both?

The lyrical is self-revelation. The epic is a discovery of the self in the contents contained out there in the world.

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Does blogging serve Destiny?

The thing for which we are but shadows; that divine form which is ourselves, perfectly, and reminds us that, today, we are incomplete, unfinished and paltry.

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If you, yourself, are a blogger, can you answer these intimate questions in a manner that speaks to Beauty and consoles (or uplifts) the human heart? If so (or not), I welcome your answers and contribution in the comments.

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Stan Faryna
31 October 2012
Bucharest, Romania

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Do you ignore the road signs too? And other social media DOHs.

Sign of Confirmation or Coincidence?
by Marcus Baker 

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Foreword by Stan Faryna

Today is a good day. For me. And for you. Because below is Marcus Baker’s essay about signs. It is not about simple road signs (stop signs, yield signs, etc), but signs that beckon us to our true self, our destiny, and opportunity. Signs beckon us closer like a gesture that asks us lean our head closer to listen to a friend or lover who offers a secret or confidence whispered with great concern or deepest affection.

Signs are not annunciations. An annunciation as Leonardo da Vinci , Tiziano Vecelli (Titian), or El Greco portray in their paintings by the same name… is unmistakable in it’s divine authority. It is authoritative, explicit, and glorious. An annunciation, like a revelation, is the indisputable, unchangeable, and irrevocable truth.

And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:28

The angel Gabriel greets Mary and informs her that she will soon be with child, that her child was the son of God, and to name her son, Jesus.

An annunciation is wonderful. Like Love at the door, joyfully and enthusiastically calling out – “Hi, honey! I’m home!

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I have often wondered if signs are for those of us who cannot bear to see and hear the truth.

Lean in and listen to what is spoken to you through Marcus’ words. Pay attention. You need to clear the next 30 minutes on your schedule. It shouldn’t take you more than 15 minutes to read it, but it will take you another 15 minutes to listen. Or more. Do that now: clear your schedule for this conference of hearts.  Do this – before you dive into this king’s ransom of iridescent pearls.

Why? I explain here.

I asked Marcus permission to re-publish his blog post here (see below) because I believe it important and useful. One reading is neither sufficient for me. Nor for you.

Marcus graciously agreed to my request and, also, to reply to your comments here.

Thank you, Marcus.

Stan Faryna
Bucharest, Romania
7 October 2011

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Enigma, Return to Innocence

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I never meant to do you wrong. #sorry

I can get so caught up in my dreams, inspirations, and the work. Even in destiny. I can get so caught up in that sticky spider web of my aspirations and intentions – so caught up that I lose sight of my nearest duty.

What do I mean by the nearest duty? My friend Thomas Waterhouse of Simple Encouragement describes a nearest duty as a smile or a touch. Or it could also be the act of simply being available to you by listening to you with my full attention.
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Coldplay, Trouble

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How to Write a Blog Post That Sucks

I finally got to watch The Adjustment Bureau – directed by George Nolfi. Starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, this romantic thriller is based on Philip K. Dick’s short story, The Adjustment Team. I liked this movie. And me liking a movie that isn’t carried by special effects and explosions is saying something. It means there’s something more than just a story.

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Leonard Cohen, Dance Me to the End of Love

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Free Will Is Sublime

I’ve been wanting to see The Adjustment Bureau ever since reading Lori Gosselin’s May blog post on fate and free will. Read it here.

Inspired by the movie, Lori asks if we have free will? And if we do, how do we describe it. The hundred or more comments that follow her post suggest the subject and questions are relevant to us – despite the blogosphere’s apparent and constant preoccupation with how to write a better mouse trap- headlines, seo, etc.

Free will is as real as it is sublime. Furthermore, we underestimate free will as much as we fail to appreciate and exercise it.

Independence Day

But if we reflect briefly on America’s Independence – we can begin to understand how awesome is free will when men, women, and children direct their free will to the common good and course of Freedom.

Even History cannot ignore free will. Because History appears to align itself with human hope when free will moves like a tide in the hearts of those who yearn to recognize the dignity of the human person.

Therefore, as much as it is a celebration of the sacrifice, triumph, and spirit of a nation, the Fourth of July is also a celebration of the effectiveness and efficiency of free will. No other holiday stirs hearts and bold passion like Independence Day – if you haven’t noticed.

Captains and Masters

One comment to Lori’s blog post summons bold words from the poem, Ivictus, by William Ernest Henley:

I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul

You can even put on a captain’s hat – if that makes you feel better. <grin>

Captains and masters, however, have no need for self-affirmation. Still, I can appreciate the longings of authors (of the poem and comment) – the longing for such command. And, I do believe, such command is intimately bound to the perfection of our individual will. As much as it is about Love.

Why This Blog Post Sucks

I had hoped to illuminate something awesome and exciting about free will for you. How it is intimately connected to our courage (or lack thereof) to be, who we are, and who we shall become. How free will is fueled by Love. In less than 200 words. Just like this.

Because I believe that such illuminations may help you unlock your potential and destiny.

But I also felt that I had to give you glimpses of free will in its greatness and defeat. For the illusion that we are captains of our souls (in this moment) is as much an illusion of the command of a car accelerating from 0-60 in under 7 seconds.

Such illusions, generally speaking, appeal to me as much as they may appeal to you. But they confuse us. Too often, they lead us astray from our destiny, ourselves, and, yes, even love.

More importantly, I fear that I have thrown these glimpses on the page as recklessly as an artist in pursuit of abstract confusion.

Will you help me save this blog post from sucking hard?

Redeem This Blog Post

Philip K. Dick may also have had some insight. He was an unusual man. That insight may have even translated into the screenplay.

What insights did you get out of the movie?

What insights do you bring from your life?

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Stan Faryna
3 July, 2011
Bucharest, Romania

Do you correct the course? Are you a trim tab? #servanthearts

Based on a post from the Servant Hearts Blog by Dr. Jack King. This mash-up was made with permission from the NorthFork Center for Servant Leadership.

Despite the human longing in each of us… that longing to pursue freedom, hope, and happiness, the true course for which our hearts yearn must be adjusted. Often. But as often as the course of human history seems presently mislaid, there are always those who steer us right. Mentors. Trouble-makers. Teachers. Trim tabs.

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Enya, Orinoco Flow

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What is a trim tab?

Trim tabs are not the high flying, bright colored banners that ripple and snap in the winds of change and folly. They are not the sails that carry a ship with speed or lull. Yet trim tabs are still important.

A trim tab is a small flap on the trailing edge of the main rudder. Trim tabs increase the ease of a course adjustment. Without the trim tab, much energy is required to employ the rudders to change the direction of a moving ship.

Trim tabs alter the course which we travel.

Buckminster Fuller referred to the function of a trim tab as a metaphor for how individuals can make a difference in the world and potentially change the course of humanity – or, at least, those in their sphere of influence and relationship.

Who is Buckminster Fuller?

An American author, architect, designer, environmentalist, humanist, and inventor, Bucky sought to change the world and, more importantly, to be of great and lasting service to all humanity.

In I Seem To Be a Verb, Bucky wrote:

I live on Earth at present, and I don’t know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing — a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process — an integral function of the universe.

Fuller felt strongly that the unthinking use of obsolete scientific ideas detracts from and misleads intuition. For example, “World-around”, Fuller believed, should replace the obsolete term “worldwide”. According to Fuller, the general belief in a flat Earth that supposedly had died out in Classical antiquity was still persistent in our language. Such anachronism, he argued, continues to limit our understanding and deceive us. In fact, the Earth is a spheroidal surface with area as Bucky asserts. It has no width.

Bucky was a trim tab.

Why do trim tabs matter?

Writes Rebel Brown, “Trim tabs empower you to dynamically adjust your course with small, incremental changes based on real-time changes in your [environment] and your own forward progress.”

On another level, trim tabs serve human history by changing the course of humanity. Because those fine adjustments to the course of human history plot an arc of consequence that leads to greater boons.

Trim tabs steer us to our destiny by altering the course of our will. Quietly, gently, and, so often, without notice and fanfare.

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For more inspiration about leadership and service, follow Servant Hearts on Facebook.

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Stan Faryna
1 July, 2011
Bucharest, Romania

If you’d like to connect with me, follow @Faryna and tweet me up on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/faryna

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About Stan Faryna

Mr. Faryna is the founder and co-founder of several technology, design and communication companies in the United States and Europe including Faryna & Associates, Inc., Halo Interactive, and others.

Stan Faryna served as a Global Voices author and translator. Global Voices is a non-profit global citizens’ media project founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a research think-tank focused on the Internet’s impact on society.

His political, scholarly, social and technical opinions have appeared in The Chicago Defender, Jurnalul National, The Washington Times, Sagar, Saptamana Financiara, Social Justice Review, and other publications.

Mr. Faryna also served as editor-in-chief of Black and Right (Praeger Press, 1996), a landmark collection of socio-political essays by important American thinkers including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Copyright

Copyright 1996 to 2012 by Stan Faryna.

Here’s my fair use policy for my content: If you want to share my content with your own audience, you may quote a brief excerpt, if and only if, you provide proper attribution (Source: The unofficial blog of Stan Faryna) with a direct link to the source. Generally speaking, as long as you are not acting as an agent or on behalf of a corporation or institution, I am not interested in any payment for the quotation or use of a complete article. Nevertheless, you may not republish or translate the entire article without my written permission. Send your request for permission via Facebook. Or tweet me up me on Twitter.

WTF?! Stop lieing to you. And other social media DOHs! 5 Minute Therapy

Do you have true feelings about anything?

I am waiting. I am ever waiting to bring the world to the perfection that is longed for in hope, joy, and possibility.

Do you feel the same as I do?

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Enigma, Return to Innocence

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I await for greater forces (men, women or otherwise) of greater prudence, courage, self-control, justice and faith. I await their direction, their demonstrations, and crowd-roaring triumphs over impossibilities, danger, and humiliation.

I am waiting to do amazing things – more amazing than I can begin to understand or imagine. Because within me are beautiful, true, and good things. They move with such precision, certainty, and counterpoint. Like the heavens. Like celestial perfection. Like a clockwork of stars and galaxies.

I am not alone

I am not alone in these anticipations and aspirations.

And you are not alone in yours.

There is untested strength, courage, and beauty in our common will. So much unrevealed awesome in our common destiny.

Wait for no one

We need begin for the hour is late. We have lost ourselves in useless distractions. We have uselessly agonized over our unfulfillment.

We do not need more things. You. Me. We need less emptiness in our hearts. We need less dishonesty. With ourselves. With others.

We need to sanctify ourselves in love. Because we are nothing – if we, ourselves, are not love. Because love is, has always been, and will always be – what we are. Wait for no one!

Do I deceive myself when I allow myself to feel my deep hunger for love? Do you?

Has not love been everything for me- when I allowed myself to feel truly the things that I feel? You?

And yet, nothing I could do would purchase it and my happiness. With one single exception- love.

Consequences

Do you feel the same?

Or, maybe, my words fail to sue for peace against the armed gates of your heart. Maybe, the walls of your heart are proud and tall like the walls of Troy.

I am of no consequence to you. I do not pretend to have wisdom for you. But who are you?

You, yourself, are of consequence to you. This is indisputable. And your emptiness longs to be filled with joy. With you. With love.

Just as my emptiness must be filled with love.

And, quite possibly, we shall find joy together. In love. With love. Through love. In the unity of our common will and destiny to be ourselves truly and completely.

Together, we can be the change that we want to see in our world.

If you can do one thing just for you today… allow yourself to feel everything as you watch this short, uplifting video:

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Stan Faryna
25 June, 2011
Valley of the Roses (Kazanlak), Bulgaria

If you’d like to connect with me, follow @Faryna and tweet me up on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/faryna

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About Stan Faryna

Mr. Faryna is the founder and co-founder of several technology, design and communication companies in the United States and Europe including Faryna & Associates, Inc., Halo Interactive, and others.

Stan Faryna served as a Global Voices author and translator. Global Voices is a non-profit global citizens’ media project founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a research think-tank focused on the Internet’s impact on society.

His political, scholarly, social and technical opinions have appeared in The Chicago Defender, Jurnalul National, The Washington Times, Sagar, Saptamana Financiara, Social Justice Review, and other publications.

Mr. Faryna also served as editor-in-chief of Black and Right (Praeger Press, 1996), a landmark collection of socio-political essays by important American thinkers including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Copyright

Copyright 1996 to 2012 by Stan Faryna.

Here’s my fair use policy for my content: If you want to share my content with your own audience, you may quote a brief excerpt, if and only if, you provide proper attribution (Source: The unofficial blog of Stan Faryna) with a direct link to the source. Generally speaking, as long as you are not acting as an agent or on behalf of a corporation or institution, I am not interested in any payment for the quotation or use of a complete article. Nevertheless, you may not republish or translate the entire article without my written permission. Send your request for permission via Facebook. Or tweet me up me on Twitter.